Many years ago, Henry Ford, (no relation, but right now I’ll take it), founder of Ford Motors, was involved in a libel trial with a Chicago Newspaper that accused him of being ‘ignorant’.

In an attempt to prove their case, the lawyers for the newspaper put Mr Ford on the stand and asked him a series of questions designed to ‘prove’ their assertion he was indeed ignorant.

The ‘Master Mind’ Principle

After putting up with round after round of difficult questions, Ford got bored and leaned forward telling the lawyer: “ If I should want to answer any of the foolish questions you have just been asking me, I have a row of electric push buttons on my desk. By pushing the right button, I can summon to my aid people who can answer any question I desire to ask concerning the business to which I am devoting most of my efforts. Now, will you kindly tell me why I should clutter up my mind with general knowledge, for the purpose of being able to answer questions, when I have people around me who can supply you the knowledge?”

Needless to say, he won the case, and in doing so, demonstrated the power of bestselling wealth author Napoleon Hill calls ‘the mastermind principle – the coordination of knowledge and effort…between two or more people’ that creates a powerful group mind that is far greater than the sum of its parts.

It’s a surprising secret of some the most successful and brilliant business people is that if they can’t do it well…they’ll get someone else to do it. It’s not even a difficult principle, to be honest. They’ve mastered harnessing collective efforts of a truly great team. What they then did was get them to pull in the same direction with motivation.

Now when I say team, I don’t want you to start employing people (unless you have to). I’m not even suggesting that everyone who supports a successful person thinks of themselves as part of that person’s success team. And if you look through history there are very few people that can do everything on their own. When you recognise there is no such thing as a ‘DIY success’, you can begin cultivating the ideal relationships to support you as you move forward towards creating your business vision.

Drafting Your Success Team

Write down the description of your business vision – the goal in life, tangible and intangible, that for you would be the epitome of success and fulfilment.

Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses in relation to your big dream – those things you do extremely well and those things you don’t, which interfere with your success.

Next to each weakness, write down the characteristics of the ideal person to support you in this area. Examples: “I’m terrible at bookkeeping – I want someone scrupulously honest, detail orientated and great at maths. I can’t sell myself – I want someone who is naturally extroverted and a big believer in what I do.

Now make a list of the people who are already part of your wealth team. this can include friends and family, neighbours and colleagues, but it can also include authors and role models who inspire and educate you, be it in person or through books, audio, videos and workshops.

Next, make a list of all the roles you would like fulfilled if you were building your own wealth team from scratch. Examples: Coach, Mentor, Motivator, Teacher, Trainer, Financial Advisor, Lawyer. Accountant, etc…

Answer each of the following questions:

How many of these roles are or could be filled by members of your current wealth team?

If you were going to create an ‘ideal wealth team’, who would you want to fill these roles?

Who on your current wealth team could help you find the ‘missing’ players on your ideal wealth team?